Describing their daughter's betrothal as a 'bombshell' in their Express column at the weekend (14 April), Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan have admitted that the young couple's news left them 'in shock'.

And we're sure that many parents with adult children will be able to relate...

While making it clear that they are 'thrilled to bits', Judy explained: 'We were both in shock. Not at Chloe's engagement to England rugby star James Haskell but at the way our role as parents has been totally transformed in just eight months.'

The 69-year-old continued: 'Last August, the second of my twin sons (Dan and Tom Henshaw, 41) got married. Then in January our second granddaughter was born to our other twin boy.

'Just a couple of months earlier our youngest son (Jack Madeley, 32) had announced he is expecting a baby with his girlfriend this July.

'And then Chloe's bombshell of a betrothal in Paris. It's really complicated to explain how discombobulated we feel.'